Animal birth control unit to come up in Rudrapur

RUDRAPUR: The Rudrapur Municipal Corporation (RMC) is all set to open an animal birth control unit and animal shelter home at Kashipur Road. The facility is spread over an area of 4,785 square meters. The unit is being built at a cost of Rs 49.29 lakh, and the construction works are expected to be completed in five months, officials associated with the project said. “This will be a full-fledged facility. It will help us carry out animal birth control program. It will be opened soon,” said mayor of the RMC Rampal Singh, who inspected the progress of the construction works at the site recently. The chief veterinary officer of the district, Dr Gopal Singh Dhami, said that there is a proposal in the pipeline to build a veterinary hospital which will excluively cater to pet owners. “The facility will also run adoption programme for stray dogs after they are neutered and vaccinated,” Dhami said. "The facility would have house operation theater, pre and post operative wards, clinical wards to accommodate animals with diseases, doctors’ rooms and isolation wards for animals infected with rabies," said Dr Gopal Singh Dhami, the chief veterinary officer of the district. Talking to TOI, Dr Dhami said, "This center will be very beneficial since it will ensure that there is less littering and after neutralization the dogs also tend to mellow down a bit. The project had been carried out with the help of rural development ministry and a fund of Rs 23 lakhs has already been allocated to the project". Dhami also mentioned that although currently the facility is only for stray dogs but there is a proposal in the pipeline for a hospital which will also cater to the pet dogs at reasonable charges. The facility will also cater to those residents who want to adopt any stray dogs after they have been neutered and vaccinated. "It is with the intensive help of US Nagar's district magistrate (DM) that we could get the land transferred to animal husbandry department and initiate with the project", he said.

Dr Sarpreet Singh Thind, a city based vet, while speaking to TOI, said, "There are 26,000 stray dogs in the district as per the dog consensus of the district in year 2012. The strength has furthermore increased. I have been pleading the authorities for the past two years to assign me the job of castrating stray dogs at free of cost, but the voice fell on deaf ears. I am hopeful that this center will be extremely helpful and is the correct way to deal with stray dogs rather than killing them, as usually people do". DM Neeraj Kharwal, who personally took the concern for the issue, said, "For now, the RMC employees will be picking the stray dogs to be operated. But soon the contract will be given to either a private firm or an NGO. We will be directing the authorities to give strict instructions to the officials of government and private hospitals, and owners of hotels, restaurants, poultry farms and butcher shops etc to stop dumping waste material at public places and roadside, so as to avoid gathering of stray dogs".